Zhixing Chen

Artist, designer, engineer, musician.

Creative

I am an artist, designer, engineer, and musician, working across live performance, human-computer interaction, AI, and dance. My MIT thesis explored how generative AI can support new forms of social interaction through music and dance. Now I'm building Stage Intelligence, AI for live event planning and operations.

My work has been presented at NIME, NeurIPS and TEI, published at ICRA, exhibited at the MIT Museum and the Gwangju Design Biennale, and performed at Harvard's Paine Hall and MIT's Thomas Tull Concert Hall. I was a Quanta Computer Graduate Fellow and received the MISTI Ambassador Award.

In my free time, I enjoy dancing, singing, songwriting, surfing, scuba diving, snowboarding, and traveling.

Zhixing Chen in a white shirt and black vest, arms crossed, in front of stone columns

Education

  1. 2026
    MS, Music Technology and Computation

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 2026. Inaugural class. Thesis: Generative Music as a Catalyst for Social Choreography, supervised by Cheng-Zhi Anna Huang.

  2. 2025
    BS, Mechanical Engineering and Music

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 2025. Final semester on exchange at ETH Zürich, spring 2025, through MISTI.

Experience

  1. 2026
    Founder, Stage Intelligence

    Since July 2026. AI tools for the people who run live production.

  2. 2025–26
    Human-AI Interaction Researcher, MIT CSAIL

    Human AI Resonance group, July 2025 to June 2026.

  3. 2025
    Visiting researcher, Global Health Engineering Lab, ETH Zürich

    February to May 2025. Under Prof. Elizabeth Tilley, supervised by Dr. Jakub Tkaczuk.

  4. 2024
    Soft Robotics Intern, Bristol Robotics Laboratory

    Bristol, UK, June to August 2024. Supervised by Dr. Chris Ford, co-supervised by Prof. Nathan Lepora and Dr. Efi Psomopoulou.

  5. 2023–24
    Swappable Battery Researcher, MIT Precision Engineering Research Group

    September 2023 to June 2024. Batteries and solar charging for off-road ambulances.

  6. 2023
    Engineering and Business Development Intern, Moving Health

    Accra, Ghana, June to August 2023. Driver's compartment for off-road tricycle ambulances.

  7. 2023
    Design-thinker for Development, MIT D-Lab

    February to May 2023. Bicycle trailer with passive cooling for farmers in South Africa.

  8. 2022–24
    Traveling Instructor, Smilegate

    South Korea, October 2022 to February 2024.

  9. 2022–24
    President, MIT Movementality

    September 2022 to September 2024.

  10. 2022–24
    Engineering and Design Mentor, MIT Edgerton Center

    September 2022 to September 2024.

Publications

  1. 2026
    Con Moto: Embodied Steering of Music Transformers for Live Dance Improvisation

    Zhixing Chen, Heidi Lei, Cheng-Zhi Anna Huang. NIME 2026, London. Project

  2. 2026
    SoftHand Model-W: A 3D-Printed, Anthropomorphic, Underactuated Robot Hand with Integrated Wrist and Carpal Tunnel

    Dhillon B. Merritt, Christopher J. Ford, Haoran Li, Malia Smith, Zhixing Chen, Efi Psomopoulou, Nathan F. Lepora. ICRA 2026, Vienna. Project

  3. 2025
    Be the Beat: AI-Powered Boombox for Music Suggestion from Freestyle Dance

    Ethan Chang, Zhixing Chen, Jb Labrune, Marcelo Coelho. TEI 2025, Work in Progress. Project

  4. 2024
    Be the Beat: AI-Powered Boombox for Music Generation from Freestyle Dance

    Zhixing Chen, Ethan Chang. NeurIPS 2024 Creative AI Track. Project

Under review

  1. 2026
    Encypher

    Paper under review.

Exhibitions and performances

  1. 2026
    Encypher

    MIT Music Technology Research Showcase, Thomas Tull Concert Hall, MIT, 13 May 2026. MIT News

  2. 2026
    Encypher, as We the Beat

    Design Redefined, MIT Museum, 30 April 2026.

  3. 2025
    unscored, on Con Moto

    With Abena Kyereme-Tuah. Harvard Hydra concert, Paine Hall, Harvard, 12 December 2025.

  4. 2026
    Be the Beat

    On display at the Metropolitan Warehouse, MIT School of Architecture and Planning, Cambridge.

  5. 2025
    Be the Beat

    Gwangju Design Biennale, South Korea, 2025.

  6. 2023
    Abyss Vivace

    ProjXpo, MIT, spring 2023.

Talks

  1. 2026
    Con Moto: Embodied Steering of Music Transformers for Live Dance Improvisation

    Long paper presentation, NIME 2026, London, June 2026. Project

  2. 2025
    Music Entrepreneurship & Innovation: From Guitar Hero to Be the Beat

    With Eran Egozy. Arts at MIT, Cambridge, 16 September 2025. Project

  3. 2025
    Be the Beat: AI-Powered Boombox for Music Suggestion from Freestyle Dance

    TEI 2025, Bordeaux, France, March 2025. Project

Awards and grants

  1. 2026
    MISTI Ambassador Award

    For taking part in every type of MISTI program, across seven experiences in Ghana, South Korea, Brazil, the UK, Switzerland and Spain, and advocating for MISTI through study abroad videos and peer mentoring.

  2. 2025–26
    Quanta Computer Graduate Fellowship
  3. 2025
    MIT Arts Startup Incubator finalist, $2,500

    Be the Beat, with Ethan Chang. Finals, April 2025.

  4. 2025
    MIT DesignX cohort, $10,000 grant

    BioBoost, one of 12 teams selected.

  5. 2025
    PKG IDEAS award, $2,000

    BioBoost.

  6. 2024
    Ma-Sha Prize, MIT 2.007 Robot Competition

    Whaley the Robot.

  7. 2023
    MIT ProjX grant, $500

    Abyss Vivace.

Certifications

  1. 2025
    PADI Open Water, Advanced Open Water and Enriched Air Nitrox Diver

Stage

  • Dance, the instruments I build for dancers, and the shows I have run are on the Performances page.

Contact

Send inquiries to email.

Zhixing Chenhi@zhixing-chen.com

Zhixing Chen

Artist. Designer. Engineer. Musician.

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